Lin Ze is in no hurry to go Hogwarts.
He first went to Grimmauld Place to find Sirius.
This time Kreacher followed Sirius's instructions and opened the door for Lin Ze.
Then he ran to the shadow of the stairs and glared at him with those lightbulb eyes, muttering something like "Here we go again, the scumbag master's yellow-skinned friend."
Lin Ze has no mind to care about it.
Sirius was sleeping on a long table in the study room on the third floor. There were more than a dozen old moldy books spread out on the table. Next to it was a half-drunk bottle of Firewhisky. The mouth of the bottle was not plugged, and the smell of alcohol spread throughout the room.
Lin Ze walked over and knocked on the table with his knuckles.
Sirius raised his head suddenly, with scraps of book pages still stuck to his cheeks, and his eyes quickly changed from dazed to sober.
"Lin? When did you come?"
"I just got here and I have something to ask you."
"Oh... you said..."
Lin Ze sat down opposite him and told him the three places Loch Ness, Tintagel and Newgrange Tomb as well as his guess about Veil.
Sirius's brows furrowed.
"You mean, these places may be related to Veil?"
"Yes, but it's just speculation at the moment, and I haven't entered Death Chamber of Department of Mysteries yet."
Sirius leans back on the chair.
"I don't know anything else, but I've been to Tintagel."
"When?"
"In the summer vacation of my fifth grade year, I was with James."
Sirius's eyes fell on the pile of old books on the table. There was a softness in Lin Ze's voice that Lin Ze rarely heard from him, and his voice slowly lowered.
"Tintagel There are many tourists in Muggle, but most of them just walk around outside the castle ruins, take a few photos and then leave."
"There is a large rocky beach on the sea side below the castle. You can walk into it very deep when the tide is low. James happened to be chasing girl Lily at that time. Lily said he wanted to go to the beach to relax, so he asked me to accompany him to the spot."
Sirius laughed, the curvature of the corners of his mouth was very shallow.
"As a result, we found a stone step on the rocky beach that day, extending down from the cracks in the reef. It was quite narrow and was mostly covered by seaweed. You couldn't see it unless you looked for it."
"Are you going down?"
"Yes, it's just that after we walked about a dozen steps, the stone steps suddenly broke." Sirius gestured with his hand.
"The fracture of the steps is very smooth, as if someone had cut it with Severing Charm. Below the fracture is the sea. When the tide is high, it can just cover the stone steps."
"What's that place called on the map?" Lin Ze asked.
"There is no name. The map of Muggle is just a reef area." Sirius picked up the bottle of Firewhisky on the table, shook it, found that there was one last sip left, and drank it down.
"Are you planning to go?"
"I have this idea."
Sirius Put the empty wine bottle on the corner of the table.
"Okay, then I'll go with you."
Lin Ze watched Sirius put on his coat with neat movements, completely different from his usual lazy look.
"I have to wait for two days. I still have a few things to arrange."
"Okay, it's up to you." Sirius leaned against the door frame.
It was still early when we came out from Grimmauld Place, so Lin Ze turned to Godric's Hollow.
At the door of Quinn's white house, Aila was riding a small bicycle in circles. There were a bunch of bells tied to the handlebars, which kept jingling.
That bicycle was obviously a new thing bought for her by Quinn couple.
"Lin!" When Aila saw Lin Ze, he slammed the brakes and almost fell off the car.
Lin Ze Hold the handlebar.
"Slow down."
"Look, I can ride a bicycle!" Aila looked up, with a piece of dust on the tip of his nose.
"Haha, little Aila is getting more and more powerful."
Quinn poked his head out of the room, "Lin is here? Come in and sit down, Amy just baked scones, and we were talking about you just now."
The smell of butter floated in the kitchen, and Amy was taking a plate of scones out of the oven.
She was wearing a floral apron today, her hair was pinned back with wooden clips, and her cheeks were slightly red from the heat of the oven.
"Lin, you're just in time, come and try the freshly baked cakes." Amy pushed a plate over, with two freshly baked scones on it, a small jar of clotted cream and a small dish of blueberry jam next to it.
Lin Ze took a bite, the crust was crispy, the inside was soft, and the buttery flavor was strong.
"Delicious."
Amy smiled and poured a glass of milk for Aila.
"What have you been busy with recently? You don't look too good." Quinn sat across from him and asked while rubbing the alchemy powder from his fingers.
"Investigating the case only becomes more complicated the more you investigate it."
"Can I help you?"
"No need."
Lin Ze swallowed the scone, thought about it and said, "Do you know 'Invisible Veil'?"
Quinn thought for a while and shook his head, "Never heard of it."
Lin Ze briefly talked about this thing.
Quinn scratched his head and said, "I remember Restricted Section of Durmstrang has a book called "Ancient Scroll of the North", which mentioned a Legend. It is said that somewhere in Northern Europe, there is a curtain that can separate life and death. Inside the curtain is the world of the dead, and outside the curtain is the world of the living. The two sides cannot communicate with each other, but they can see each other."
"What other details can you remember?" Lin Ze asked.
Quinn thought for a long time and shook his head again.
"This was ten years ago. I only turned a few pages and thought it was too mysterious so I didn't read it carefully."
"If you could only get your hands on that book..."
"I can write a letter to Durmstrang, but I can't guarantee that they will be willing to lend Restricted Section's things to a person who has graduated."
"Try it." Lin Ze said.
Amy came over with a jar of honey and a cup of hot water and sat down next to Quinn.
"Let's have some honey water to relieve fatigue. You look very tired."
Lin Ze nodded and did not refuse.
Aila was lying on the table, resting his chin on his folded arms, staring at Lin Ze with a pair of lake-green eyes.
"Are you leaving again?"
"Yes, this case is more complicated."
"Can you take me there?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to investigate a case, not have a picnic."
Aila pouted, slid off the chair, and ran to the corner of the living room to continue tossing her little bicycle.
Lin Ze stayed at Godric's Hollow until evening, and Quinn wrote a letter to Durmstrang.
Before leaving, Aila chased him to the porch and grabbed the hem of Lin Ze's coat.
"You really can't take me there?"
"I'm not going to play." Lin Ze looked at the little girl speechlessly.
Lin Ze knelt down and looked at her levelly. He originally wanted to say, "Just stay good and be good", but then he changed his words.
"Take care of Quinn for me, don't let this guy blow up his house."
Aila nodded solemnly. "No problem, he blew up the kitchen a few days ago and was so angry that Amy made him sleep in the living room for two days."
"Yeah, you have to help keep an eye on him this time."
"Okay!"
Aila chuckled, turned around and ran back into the house.
Lin Ze stood up, waved to Quinn and Amy, and walked towards the Floo Network node in the valley.